Buying Blight

Eminent domain abuse

Grabby developers know a sure way to overcome resistance from an
owner who refuses to sell his property: Declare it blighted. That’s
what happened recently in Mount Vernon, New York, which borders on
New York City. In October city council members declared nearly
eight acres of the city blighted—a designation that authorizes the
use of eminent domain for private development. MVP Realty
Associates, a private developer, paid for the blight study.

MVP, which says it wants to build a “transit-oriented,
pedestrian-friendly, intergenerational mixed income destination,”
has begun buying properties in the neighborhood. Of the 10
properties MVP controls, nine were found to have a “blighting
influence,” and some were so rundown the city ordered them vacated.
(The city owns nine other properties determined to be blighted.)
But the blight label means MVP can force even the owners of
well-maintained homes and businesses in the neighborhood to sell
under the threat of condemnation. The threatened properties
include single- and multi-family homes, apartment buildings with
ground-floor businesses, four churches, and a day care
center.

“This is exactly what we need to move forward,” Council
President Roberta Apuzzo said in an October city council meeting,
according to the Mount Vernon Daily Voice. “It’s not safe, clean,
or healthy,” she added, “and the only way to get the drug addicts
out of the community is to make the place pretty.” Apuzzo also said
she voted to accept the study’s results because she felt low
property prices throughout the town were “absurd.”

John K. Ross is a researcher and editor of Short Circuit for the Institute for Justice, and a former Reason intern.

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